Homeros: Oud Royale

No single person composed this perfume.

In the spring of 2020, I was stranded on the southern Antalyan coast, a sea away from my atelier, staring at the exact stretch of Mediterranean – that coastline, orange groves on the hills and narcissus on the breeze and the salt-cool of the Aegean coming off the water – I wanted to bottle but was unable to lay a hand on a single aromatic that might do it.

Lockdown left me one option: to make it by proxy.

That became The Odyssey Collab – not a focus group but a committed private membership. Each member worked from an Odyssey guide and five contenders – Ithaca, Zante, Ogygia, Cythera, Achaea – wearing and judging every version in my place, then trading verdicts with me privately, across a shuttered planet. Tweak by tweak, through other people’s hands and other people’s noses, a perfume took shape that none of us – its supposed author included – had seen coming.

It was a great experience to challenge the hardest-to-please fragheads I know. This was a crowd that could pick out the tonka in Zante and the sliver of musk inside Ithaca and in none of the others; who flagged that there was no ambergris anywhere in the composition – there wasn’t, and now there’s plenty; who worked out that it was the apricot quietly killing the mandarin, because it was. Homeros belongs as much to them as to me – to Andy for his scathing eye, to Erhard for his avant-garde proposals, to Walter, who talked me into the petrichor-green incense of Papuan oud, and to Eugenie, who claims direct descent from Homer himself.

All these years later, I opened those emails again. The Odyssey Collab was over, but the perfumer who read them wasn’t the same one who had written them. I kept everything the Collab had fought for, and developed it as far as all I’d learned since convinced me it could go.

Spray it, and the voyage begins…

The morning comes off the water first: red mandarin and bergamot flung across your skin like sun on open sea, a raw knuckle of ginger cutting the light sharp enough to sail into. And oud.

An island tries to keep you: tuberose opening its throat, blackcurrant bleeding resin, a narcotic green breath of betel leaf that begs you to drop anchor and stay. Inland the light turns gold – lavender and saffron off the hot hills, osmanthus glowing apricot, almost the exact color of an afternoon that doesn’t want to end. And more oud.

Under it all runs the sea itself… nearly every perfume on earth is dissolved in plain alcohol; Homeros floats on a fortune of vanishing aromatics – musk, ambergris, and a 70s Mysore tincture that’s been steeping for five years.

The Ithaca Accord

This edition has also been enhanced with a full three grams of our Ithaca accord, which includes a trio of vintage ouds most collectors would ration by the swipe.

Down the hull: salt driven into cypress, cedar and oak until the timber groans. The Ithaca Accord soaks that wood in incense and lets it darken. Tigerwood 1991 already belongs in this world – wild West-Malaysian agarwood, black-striped like its namesake, distilled thirty-five years ago and matured into dense, creamy incense, a green camphoric pitch rising through a red-musk heart, sweet as a chip laid on the coal. It doesn’t turn the perfume purple; it makes the wooden vessel older, darker, resin-soaked – the timbers of a ship long at sea.

Around it, Oud Royale (1982), which came, fittingly for a story of kings, from a sultan’s own rotation – dry and kinamic, oozing incense off a resin so cold it numbs the tongue. And Mélange Royale, a dark, jammy vintage Taifi rose sinking into vintage Myitkyina agarwood.

None of it can be made again – the trees are gone, the harvests history. Half a century of maturation is something no amount of money can recreate. Three grams is enough to change everything below the waterline: up top the salt and citrus still break bright, but beneath them the ship itself has gone dark, the hull soaked in oud incense and old-school resin.

The Odyssey was never about travel, but about a man stranded far from home, improvising his way back through everyone he met. Homeros could only have been made in one strange season, by one improbable group of people, under circumstances that now seem almost mythical. Now it returns at its highest concentration ever, enriched with the world’s most precious ouds – distillations I simply wouldn’t have committed to a perfume back then.

Composition: Oud Royale · Mélange Royale · Tigerwood 1991 · Musk Motia · Persian Rose · Orange Blossom · Osmanthus · Elderflower · Neroli · Hinoki · Blue Cypress · Civet · Khmer Musk (Tibetan musk steeped in wild Cambodian oud) · Indian Sandalwood · Maroke Agarwood · Bourbon Vanilla · Patchouli Musk (Tibetan musk steeped in patchouli) · Tolu Balsam · Oakmoss · Tobacco · Cacao

Carrier: 70s Mysore Sandalwood · Borneo Oud Resin · SQ Ambergris · Tonkin Musk

*Features the original Habib Dingle leather (full-grain Italian calf hide) pouch with an accompanying terracotta stone cap.

Reviews of Previous Editions…

It’s so complex, you won’t be able to drive after applying #FACT – Colin, UK

Oh man, Homeros is such a mega gorgeous parfum! – Lorenz, Germany

Homeros sits somewhere between a coniferous forest situated amongst the crystalline aquamarine waters of the salty Mediterranean Sea and the rugged leather and denim worn-in aesthetic of a pipe-in-hand Ernest Hemingway. The opening is a blast of musky citrus laden bitter florals, charred embers of desiccated driftwood and a resinous dried fruit meets pipe tobacco Aura that lets you know you’re smelling the famous Ensar DNA. From here a smooth and salty ambergris mixes with what feels like a Merauke’y oud which rests upon an ambered core complete with tendrils of birch tar and castoruem. The tobacco plays hide and seek. At times it feels acrid but as the scent progresses it becomes a noticeable Burley style accord. Think dry, cured unflavored tobacco that almost leans animalic.

I wouldn’t consider this a floral perfume yet florals play a heavy role in the opening and drydown. There’s an interesting floral tonality that feels “purple” in the core of Homeros. Whisps of Jasmine and Orange Blossom can be found adding cheerful sunshine to a more brooding and stormy base. In a way it’s like the churning of an oncoming oceanic storm where the light blue shores turn deep green and murky brown.

As the storm settles the classic golden Ensar’gris takes shape on the center stage and a milky, herbal tea meets leather gently closes out the night. It’s this drydown that I live for. Ensar truly is a master of creating exquisite leather drydowns. Each one with their own story to tell but you know exactly who the author is. – Aaron, USA

Homeros, my personal sweet spot. A story of layers and balance, walking the line between light and darkness gracefully. A cheerful fragrance with edge and soul.

I cannot recommend Homeros highly enough to be honest. Homeros is basically exactly how I want to smell like myself. That’s obviously my personal and very subjectice point of view, but there is a really good chance you’ll enjoy it as well. – Tom, Germany

This scent is absolutely stunning! Fruity opening with a blast of smoky salty Ambergris. It has a slightly dark and strong tone to it. To me it creates the feeling of dry sea salt on skin, just like you took a swim in the ocean. — Lorenz, Germany

Homeros arrived today. Firstly, this seems like you need a degree in oudology. Every time I smell my arm it’s changing. Is this the one that twists my head off. – Colin, UK

Homeros has officially blown my mind. There is a note deep within that I can’t decipher or understand that has made me feel like I can’t control my emotions. The only problem is, I should’ve bought the 50ml. Lesson learned… – Colin, UK

Homeros is a perfect combination of orange peel citrus, musk, tobacco, and oud. It is the most unique and most beloved spray I own. – Abu Naeem

Yusuf’s ingredients are woven around Oud to exalt and showcase the Oud used.  Homeros is a Pure Parfum of epic proportions, that showcases Ensars skills in blending Oud Musk Ambergris Aromatics and many more into a story in a bottle. More details in my review, the only mod I would make is what I thought was Black Ambergris I’ve come to realize is Oud resin of massive proportions. – Ryan, Canada

Oud Yusuf and Homeros are both incredible but very very different. Yusuf is built entirely around the oud and its facets, and while the experience is amazing every time I wear it, it stays consistent. Homeros is an entirely different animal. I’ve probably gotten a dozen full wearings out of it now, and each and every one of them has been different. Every wearing different notes take center stage and the nuances are always showing me something new. Sometimes I get loads of cedar, sometimes leather. Sometimes it’s all about the oud, and one time the citrus was singing to me almost through the entire life of the fragrance. I don’t know if this effect is as pronounced for others as it is for me, but it still blows my mind every time I put it on. Probably the most complex bottle in my collection, and one of my favorites. – Ryan, USA

The hidden harbor of Ithaca contained one of the most precious treasures among Odysseus’s collection. Upon slaying the vile suitors who relentlessly pursued Penelope. Victorious in battle, nerves of steel, reclaiming his wife and thrown. The elixir of Homeros was poured out over the head of Odysseus to anoint the return of Ithaca’s King.Riddle me this;

I’m the coolest spice. Ocean blue, pepper ice.

Anyone wanna guess?

Answer: HomerosI haven’t discussed the accord. My apologies but what I have done is written a small iteration of what, to me -this scent encapsulates. Rugged, steel, adventurous, ocean blue, the tossing of the waves, friction and victory, the sand of the sea shore, the wind from the storm, the fire that warms the hands, the spices of the unknown Islands, the freezing temperature of the sea, the lust of desire, competition of love, the regal King, a clean and fresh saga of olfactory complexity. Homeros has my head spinning in a tail of wonder.I do want to create a more grounded write up of this scent considering it has had no attention since it’s release from the community. But it is an extraordinary parfum re-release. Beautiful job Ensar Oud.

Many thanks to you, team Ensar Oud and everyone in the community here who helped during the collaboration of this fine elixir. – Chad, USA

Opening blast of the most beautiful citrus aromatics I’ve experienced in an Ensar. His focus was on the bitter orange tree and capturing neroli and orange blossom. I’m getting the rind and the fruit. It’s sharp citric but also sweet and honeyed.

As the citrus starts to settle I detect musk, and spices, a slight culinary undertone starts to appear.

It’s hard to place but it’s not gourmand or sweet per say but more of an impression of coffee or coca (not milk chocolate.)

It’s incredibly pleasing the musk and citrus all secured by that culinary feeling of spices and herbs.

Towards the 2nd hour a black ambergris emerges not to be confused with a leather accord. The black ambergris is a material that is very hard to work with and can overpower and it does become very present at certain points during the wear.

3rd and forth hour the ambergris recedes and it shifts to more of a dark tobacco with whips of smoke and orange blossom tinged civet deep underneath it all.

The tobacco and culinary aspects change position back and forth with Black Ambergris joining in from time to time.

This is a very complex fragrance that changes upon each wear.

Sometimes it’s all citrus and black ambergris, other times it’s dark coca and oud smoke and resins.

It feels like the culmination of all past releases. It’s familiar but unique enough and is a wonderful ride from start to finish.

It is after all a perfumers longing for home. It wouldn’t feel right if there wasn’t a memory or a feeling of past DNA from previous compositions. After all isn’t that what coming home is all about? To me Homeros opens up in a citrus bright land but ends up in Enasar’s home where oud, musk, and ambergris rule.

I look forward to more wearings as I have a feeling, in typical Ensar fashion there is more to unravel from this Pure Parfum. – Ryan, Canada

I am extremely impressed and happy with the Homeros I bought previously, I love it so much I’ve decided to order a backup bottle, I simply do not want to live without it.  If I could only have 1 perfume to rule my entire collection of hundreds of other fragrances, Homeros is it.

This is absolutely signature-worthy and a God tier among all my other artisanal fragrances, it is giving me a very surreal, uplifting, and meditative experience. The luxurious leather, tobacco, oud, ambergris, authentic smoke, florals, herbs, and spices notes from the Homeros are to die for.

The complexity, longevity, and projection are unbelievably incredible too! Hands down, this masterpiece is the very best fragrance I have the pleasure to smell and own, thank you so much Ensar, for doing what you do best! – Ben, USA

Homeros by the way is wow, just wow. Still getting my mind wrapped around it. – Denis, Sweden

My initial response and first impressions were that it was not at all what I was expecting.  Being a frequent visitor of Greece and the Mediterranean, I was expecting at the onset for there to be a fresher element to it which would then carry into a woodier/animalic base. Perhaps a significantly more complex version of the typical perfume that tries to mimic the Mediterranean.

That being said, I absolutely love the fragrance. The development and experience is beautiful and I am so glad to have it. Today, I am giving it the first full wear and it has been so enjoyable for the first two and a half hours. The fragrance just keeps getting better and better as you wear it. It is complex, rich and so unique. 5 stars from me. – Scott, USA

I just received the Homeros and it is incredible, absolutely stunning, thank you! – Ben, USA